In a bizarre turn of events, the Allahabad High Court expressed astonishment over a Kushinagar case where authorities registered an FIR in the name of a deceased individual and listed him as a witness in the chargesheet.
Insights:
The court has mandated an investigation into the incident, questioning how the officials could have taken a statement from a deceased person.
The incident came to light during a hearing presided over by Justice Saurabh Shyam Shamsheri, concerning a petition filed by Purushottam Singh and four others.
The petitioners challenged a case registered against them in 2014, accusing them of fraud and other offenses.
The complainant in the case, Shabd Prakash, who resided in the Kotwali Hata area of Kushinagar, passed away on December 19, 2011.
A report from the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Kushinagar, supported by a death certificate and a statement from his wife, confirmed this.
Despite Shabd Prakash’s death, officials filed the FIR three years later, in 2014.
The investigating officer not only included the deceased in the charge sheet but also purportedly recorded his statement.
This procedural anomaly prompted the High Court to question how such an unusual event could have occurred.
The court has directed the Superintendent of Police (SP) in Kushinagar to conduct a thorough investigation into the matter.
The inquiry will focus on how the statement of a deceased person was taken and how it impacted the legal proceedings.
The court also instructed the SP to scrutinize the actions of the investigating officer involved in this case.
Additionally, the High Court has requested the High Court Bar Association to address the matter with the advocate who filed the case. The court further added that the advocate must exercise greater caution, especially when handling cases involving deceased individuals.
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